Talison Lithium on notice over toxic workplace culture

A leading lithium mining company has been issued with an improvement notice after a workplace safety survey revealed a culture of psychological distress among its workers at a site in Western Australia's South West.

The notice was issued to Talison Lithium, which operates the Greenbushes mine, 240 kilometres south of Perth, after workers reported excessive work demands, inadequate resourcing, and poor work conditions.

Toxic Workplace Culture

The survey, conducted by the state's work safety watchdog, identified a range of psychosocial hazards at the mine, including inadequate toilet facilities and working areas contaminated by animal faeces.

Current and former staff have described a toxic workplace culture, with one worker, speaking anonymously, saying they felt morally distressed by what they witnessed at work and raised concerns over the independence of Talison's internal complaints process.

"Employees go externally when they feel they've exhausted everything internally," they said.

"I started to realise that I was at burnout."

Workers also reported tiredness, nervousness or anxiety, low mood or depression, hopelessness, and feelings of worthlessness.

Miner Apologizes to Staff

Talison chief executive Rob Telford apologized to workers in an email, saying that the company's expectations of a respectful and safe workplace had not been met.

"Let me be clear, any behaviour that undermines this, including bullying, aggression, intimidation, and any form of harassment, sexual or otherwise, has absolutely no place at Talison," Mr Telford wrote.

Rob Telford said the findings of the psychosocial survey were deeply concerning.

Regulatory Action

The work safety watchdog has ordered Talison to complete a review of measures to manage psychosocial hazards at the Greenbushes mine and consult with workers by November 20.

Talison has begun work on improving the workplace culture, including implementing clearer expectations for respectful workplace behaviour, increased team capacity, and stronger systems.

"Improvements have been implemented across a number of areas including clearer expectations for respectful workplace behaviour, increased team capacity, stronger systems and a sitewide program to improve facilities," a Talison spokesperson said.

"Further work is planned, leveraging work that others in the industry have successfully trialled, but we have prioritised initiatives to support improving the felt experience of our workforce."

Union Calls for Tougher Action

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary Steve McCartney said the watchdog needed to take stronger action.

"The feedback I'm getting is that it sounds pretty toxic, and the company is doing little or nothing to deal with it, except the review that has been there for quite some time," he said.

"Letting the company have a bit of a yarn to itself, and carry on doing a review, without them intervening and saying we need some interim measures up front is a bit soft in my view."

Mr McCartney said psychosocial injuries were as serious as physical injuries.

"It affects you at home, it affects you at work," he said.

"Your head isn't where your hands are, so the potential for physical harm is just as active."